Keystone Lake Water Level
Oklahoma · Arkansas River
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Water level history
About Keystone Lake
Keystone Lake is a reservoir on the Arkansas River in Oklahoma, operated by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. It sits just west of Tulsa at the Arkansas–Cimarron confluence. Its full summer pool sits at 723 ft above sea level. Live water levels come from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (CWMS) and update hourly.
Understanding Keystone Lake's water level
Keystone Lake is the flood gate above Tulsa. It sits where the Cimarron joins the Arkansas about fifteen miles west of downtown, and it controls 22,351 square miles of contributing drainage, which is why the spillway carries eighteen tainter gates, each forty feet wide and thirty-five feet high, rated at 914,000 cubic feet per second. Below it the Tulsa and West Tulsa levee system runs roughly twenty miles from Sand Springs through the city, protecting around ten thousand residents, and it is fully loaded at about 150,000 cubic feet per second. What Keystone holds back is the difference.
May 2019 is the event that defines the modern record. The lake reached 757.19 feet on 28 May, about 34 feet above its 723-foot conservation pool and past the top of the surcharge pool, on a flood that delivered more than eleven million acre-feet between late April and the end of June with a peak inflow of 321,300 cubic feet per second. The largest inflow ever recorded here was actually higher, 344,000 cubic feet per second in October 1986. Flood storage runs from 723 up to 754 feet, with surcharge to 757 and the dam crest at 771.
The lake also carries a salt problem that shapes its fishing. Oklahoma biologists attribute the load primarily to the Cimarron rather than the Arkansas, with chlorides running as high as 3,000 parts per million and salinity swinging between 0.45 and 4.03 parts per thousand. That mineral loading contributes to summer stratification and oxygen depletion in the deeper water, and state biologists coordinate sluice gate releases during critical summer periods specifically to relieve the anoxic conditions that threaten striped bass. Those stripers came from a stocking programme that ran from 1965 to 1969 and put in more than 2.7 million fish; no natural reproduction has been documented, so the population is a long echo of that one effort. Filling the lake took the town of Keystone itself, which existed from about 1900 until 1962, along with Appalachia, and about ninety percent of Prue. Mannford voted 83 to 10 in June 1959 to move, and now sits surrounded by water on three sides.
Keystone Lake — frequently asked
What is Keystone Lake's full pool elevation?
The top of the conservation pool is 723 feet above sea level. The top of the flood-control pool is 754 feet, the surcharge pool reaches 757, and the top of the dam is 771. The spillway carries eighteen tainter gates, each forty by thirty-five feet, capable of passing 914,000 cubic feet per second.
What is Keystone Lake's record high level?
757.19 feet on 28 May 2019, roughly 34 feet above conservation pool and past the top of the surcharge pool. That flood delivered more than eleven million acre-feet between late April and the end of June, with a peak inflow of 321,300 cubic feet per second. The largest inflow ever recorded at the dam was higher still, 344,000 cubic feet per second in October 1986.
How does Keystone Lake protect Tulsa?
It is the controlling structure immediately upstream. The Tulsa and West Tulsa levee system runs about twenty miles from Sand Springs through the city and protects roughly ten thousand residents, and it is fully loaded at around 150,000 cubic feet per second on the Arkansas River. Keystone holds inflow back and meters releases against that limit, which is why its own pool can climb thirty feet during a major event.
Why is Keystone Lake salty?
Natural mineral load, and Oklahoma biologists attribute most of it to the Cimarron River rather than the Arkansas. Chlorides have been measured as high as 3,000 parts per million, with salinity ranging from 0.45 to 4.03 parts per thousand. That loading contributes to temperature stratification and oxygen depletion in the deeper water during summer.
Are the striped bass in Keystone Lake stocked?
They descend from a stocking programme that ran from 1965 to 1969 and released more than 2.7 million fish. No natural reproduction has been documented since, so the population depends on that historical effort. Abundance is below late-1970s levels, limited by fish washing downstream during high water and by summer temperature and oxygen stress. Mannford, on the lake, calls itself the Striped Bass Capital.
What towns were flooded to build Keystone Lake?
The town of Keystone itself, which existed from about 1900 until 1962 and gave the lake its name, plus the former town of Appalachia and part of Osage. Prue lost about ninety percent of its townsite and relocated north-northeast as New Prue. Mannford voted 83 of 93 registered voters in June 1959 to relocate, and the new town sits surrounded by water on three sides.
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